While not the only game of its kind, it's an excellent fusion of action and graphics that remind me of the good ol days.
At its core, Neon Wars is a simple game. Move around your "ship" with your mouse and collect powerups while avoiding coming into contact with enemies. You're not entirely defensive, as you're automatically firing out shots at the nearest enemy. If things get too hairy, clicking the mouse launches a "bomb", which is one of a variety of powerful move of some sort that usually results in destroying all the enemies on the map.
As the game continues, the enemies come at you increasingly faster while a score multiplier builds up. Before long, you're engaged in quite a rapid fire twitch game. Inevitably, you'll run out of extra lives and land at the high score screen, where you're free to start over again or take a break.
I hear that similar versions of this game can be found in Crystal Quest for the MacPlus and Geometry Wars/Plus for the XBox/360. However, just because this game isn't entirely original doesn't mean it isn't about as close to that pure gaming vibe as you can get. The kind of fun this game generates is the same kind of fun that spawned the gaming industry in its humble beginnings and, in ways, is still as good now as it was then.
The demo version allows unlimited play from "Blue Zone" onward while the registered version allows you to start later on (when things are faster) as well as grants access to additional features such as other "bomb" moves. Besides zones, there's an additional "difficulty" setting as well, so this is a game that should be able to challenge everybody exactly where they want to be challenged.
If I can levy any kind of critique against Neon Wars, it's only that its not a really deep, long-lasting game. There's no unlockables (unless you count registration features) and so no real incentive to play other than to just plain have fun. Will that be worth $20.00 to you? Neon Wars serves as a reminder of sorts that there's not necessarily anything wrong with playing just to have fun.